Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Nehemiah 1 / Basic English

1. The history of Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah. Now it came about, in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, when I was in Shushan, the king's town,
2. That Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah; and in answer to my request for news of the Jews who had been prisoners and had got away, and of Jerusalem,
3. They said to me, The small band of Jews now living there in the land are in great trouble and shame: the wall of Jerusalem has been broken down, and its doorways burned with fire.
4. Then, after hearing these words, for some days I gave myself up to weeping and sorrow, seated on the earth; and taking no food I made prayer to the God of heaven,
5. And said, O Lord, the God of heaven, the great God, greatly to be feared, keeping faith and mercy with those who have love for him and are true to his laws:
6. Let your ear now take note and let your eyes be open, so that you may give ear to the prayer of your servant, which I make before you at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel, your servants, while I put before you the sins of the children of Israel, which we have done against you: truly, I and my father's people are sinners.
7. We have done great wrong against you, and have not kept the orders, the rules, and the decisions, which you gave to your servant Moses.
8. Keep in mind, O Lord, the order you gave your servant Moses, saying, If you do wrong I will send you wandering among the peoples:
9. But if you come back to me and keep my orders and do them, even if those of you who have been forced out are living in the farthest parts of heaven, I will get them from there, and take them back to the place marked out by me for the resting-place of my name.
10. Now these are your servants and your people, whom you have made yours by your great power and by your strong hand.
11. O Lord, let your ear take note of the prayer of your servant, and of the prayers of your servants, who take delight in worshipping your name: give help, O Lord, to your servant this day, and let him have mercy in the eyes of this man. (Now I was the king's wine-servant.)

Nehemiah 2 / Basic English

1. And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never before been sad when the king was present.
2. And the king said to me, Why is your face sad, seeing that you are not ill? this is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was full of fear;
3. And said to the king, May the king be living for ever: is it not natural for my face to be sad, when the town, the place where the bodies of my fathers are at rest, has been made waste and its doorways burned with fire?
4. Then the king said to me, What is your desire? So I made prayer to the God of heaven.
5. And I said to the king, If it is the king's pleasure, and if your servant has your approval, send me to Judah, to the town where the bodies of my fathers are at rest, so that I may take in hand the building of it.
6. And the king said to me (the queen being seated by his side), How long will your journey take, and when will you come back? So the king was pleased to send me, and I gave him a fixed time.
7. Further, I said to the king, If it is the king's pleasure, let letters be given to me for the rulers across the river, so that they may let me go through till I come to Judah;
8. And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's park, so that he may give me wood to make boards for the doors of the tower of the house, and for the wall of the town, and for the house which is to be mine. And the king gave me this, for the hand of my God was on me.
9. Then I came to the rulers of the lands across the river and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me captains of the army and horsemen.
10. And Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, hearing of it, were greatly troubled because a man had come to the help of the children of Israel.
11. So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days.
12. And in the night I got up, taking with me a small band of men; I said nothing to any man of what God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem: and I had no beast with me but the one on which I was seated.
13. And I went out by night, through the doorway of the valley, and past the dragon's water-spring as far as the place where waste material was put, viewing the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down, and the doorways which had been burned with fire.
14. Then I went on to the door of the fountain and to the king's pool: but there was no room for my beast to get through.
15. Then in the night, I went up by the stream, viewing the wall; then turning back, I went in by the door in the valley, and so came back.
16. And the chiefs had no knowledge of where I had been or what I was doing; and I had not then said anything to the Jews or to the priests or the great ones or the chiefs or the rest of those who were doing the work.
17. Then I said to them, You see what a bad condition we are in; how Jerusalem is a waste, and its doorways burned with fire: come, let us get to work, building up the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer be put to shame.
18. Then I gave them an account of how the hand of my God was on me, helping me; and of the king's words which he had said to me. And they said, Let us get to work on the building. So they made their hands strong for the good work.
19. But Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, hearing of it, made sport of us, laughing at us and saying, What are you doing? will you go against the king?
20. Then answering them I said, The God of heaven, he will be our help; so we his servants will go on with our building: but you have no part or right or any name in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 3 / Basic English

1. Then Eliashib, the chief priest, got up with his brothers the priests, and took in hand the building of the sheep doorway; they made it holy and put its doors in position; as far as the tower of Hammeah they made it holy, even to the tower of Hananel.
2. And by his side the men of Jericho were building. And after them, Zaccur, the son of Imri.
3. The sons of Hassenaah were the builders of the fish doorway; they put its boards in place and put up its doors, with their locks and rods.
4. By their side Meremoth, the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, was making good the walls. Then Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel; and by him, Zadok, the son of Baana.
5. Near them, the Tekoites were at work; but their chiefs did not put their necks to the work of their Lord.
6. Joiada, the son of Paseah, and Meshullam, the son of Besodeiah, made good the old doorway; they put its boards in place and put up its doors, with their locks and rods.
7. By their side were working Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah from the seat of the ruler across the river.
8. Near them was working Uzziel, the son of Harhaiah, the gold-worker. And by him was Hananiah, one of the perfume-makers, building up Jerusalem as far as the wide wall.
9. Near them was working Rephaiah, the son of Hur, the ruler of half Jerusalem.
10. By his side was Jedaiah, the son of Harumaph, opposite his house. And by him was Hattush, the son of Hashabneiah.
11. Malchijah, the son of Harim, and Hasshub, the son of Pahath-moab, were working on another part, and the tower of the ovens.
12. Near them was Shallum, the son of Hallohesh, the ruler of half Jerusalem, with his daughters.
13. Hanun and the people of Zanoah were working on the doorway of the valley; they put it up and put up its doors, with their locks and rods, and a thousand cubits of wall as far as the doorway where the waste material was placed.
14. And Malchijah, the son of Rechab, the ruler of the division of Beth-haccherem, made good the doorway of the waste, building it up and putting up its doors, with their locks and rods.
15. And Shallun, the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of the division of Mizpah, made good the doorway of the fountain, building it up and covering it and putting up its doors, with their locks and rods, with the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king's garden, as far as the steps which go down from the town of David.
16. By his side was working Nehemiah, the son of Azbuk, ruler of half the division of Beth-zur, as far as the place opposite the last resting-places of David's family, and the pool which was made and the house of the men of war.
17. Then came the Levites, Rehum, the son of Bani. By his side was working Hashabiah, ruler of half the division of Keilah, for his division.
18. After him were working their brothers, Bavvai, the son of Henadad, ruler of half the division of Keilah.
19. And by his side was working Ezer, the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, making good another part opposite the way up to the store of arms at the turning of the wall.
20. After him Baruch, the son of Zabbai, was hard at work on another part, from the turning of the wall to the door of the house of Eliashib, the chief priest.
21. After him Meremoth, the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, was working on another part, from the door of the house of Eliashib as far as the end of his house.
22. After him were working the priests, the men of the lowland.
23. After them came Benjamin and Hasshub, opposite their house. After them Azariah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, made good the wall by the house where he himself was living.
24. After him Binnui, the son of Henadad, was working on another part, from the house of Azariah as far as the turning of the wall and the angle.
25. Palal, the son of Uzai, made good the wall opposite the angle and the tower which comes out from the higher part of the king's house, by the open space of the watch. After him was Pedaiah, the son of Parosh.
26. (Now the Nethinim were living in the Ophel, as far as the place facing the water doorway to the east, and the tower which comes out.)
27. After him the Tekoites were making good another part, opposite the great tower which comes out, and up to the wall of the Ophel.
28. Further on, past the horse doorway, the priests were at work, every one opposite his house.
29. After them Zadok, the son of Immer, was working opposite his house. And after him Shemaiah, the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the east door.
30. After him Hananiah, the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, were making good another part. After him Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, made good the wall opposite his room.
31. After him Malchijah, one of the gold-workers to the Nethinim and the traders, made good the wall opposite the doorway of Hammiphkad and as far as the way up to the angle.
32. And between the way up to the angle and the sheep door, the gold-workers and the traders made good the wall.

Acts 17 / Basic English

1. Now when they had gone through Amphipolis and Apollonia they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Synagogue of the Jews:
2. And Paul, as he generally did, went in to them, and on three Sabbath days had discussions with them from the holy Writings,
3. Saying to them clearly and openly that Christ had to be put to death and come back to life again; and that this Jesus, whom, he said, I am preaching to you, is the Christ.
4. And some of them had faith, and were joined to Paul and Silas; and a number of the God-fearing Greeks, and some of the chief women.
5. But the Jews, being moved with envy, took with them certain low persons from among the common people, and getting together a great number of people, made an outcry in the town, attacking the house of Jason with the purpose of taking them out to the people.
6. And when they were not able to get them, they took Jason and some of the brothers by force before the rulers of the town, crying, These men, who have made trouble all over the world have now come here;
7. Whom Jason has taken into his house: and they are acting against the orders of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.
8. And hearing these things the people and the rulers of the town were troubled.
9. And having made Jason and the others give an undertaking to keep the peace, they let them go.
10. And the brothers straight away sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea: and they, when they came there, went to the Synagogue of the Jews.
11. Now these were more noble than the Jews of Thessalonica, for they gave serious attention to the word, searching in the holy Writings every day, to see if these things were so.
12. And a number of them had faith, and no small number of the Greek women of high position and of the men.
13. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had news that Paul was preaching the word at Beroea, they came there, troubling the people and working them up.
14. So the brothers sent Paul straight away to the sea: but Silas and Timothy kept there still.
15. But those who went with Paul took him as far as Athens, and then went away, with orders from him to Silas and Timothy to come to him quickly.
16. Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was troubled, for he saw all the town full of images of the gods.
17. So he had discussions in the Synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and every day in the market-place with those who were there.
18. And some of those who were supporters of the theories of the Epicureans and the Stoics, had a meeting with him. And some said, What is this talker of foolish words saying? And others, He seems to be a preacher of strange gods: because he was preaching of Jesus and his coming back from the dead.
19. And they took him to Mars' Hill, saying, Will you make clear to us what is this new teaching of yours?
20. For you seem to us to say strange things, and we have a desire to get the sense of them.
21. (Now all the Athenians and the men from other lands who come there were giving all their time to talking or hearing of anything new.)
22. And Paul got to his feet on Mars' Hill and said, O men of Athens, I see that you are overmuch given to fear of the gods.
23. For when I came by, I was looking at the things to which you give worship, and I saw an altar with this writing on it, TO THE GOD OF WHOM THERE IS NO KNOWLEDGE. Now, what you, without knowledge, give worship to, I make clear to you.
24. The God who made the earth and everything in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, is not housed in buildings made with hands;
25. And he is not dependent on the work of men's hands, as if he had need of anything, for he himself gives to all life and breath and all things;
26. And he has made of one blood all the nations of men living on all the face of the earth, ordering their times and the limits of their lands,
27. So that they might make search for God, in order, if possible, to get knowledge of him and make discovery of him, though he is not far from every one of us:
28. For in him we have life and motion and existence; as certain of your verse writers have said, For we are his offspring.
29. If then we are the offspring of God, it is not right for us to have the idea that God is like gold or silver or stone, formed by the art or design of man.
30. Those times when men had no knowledge were overlooked by God; but now he gives orders to all men in every place to undergo a change of heart:
31. Because a day has been fixed in which all the world will be judged in righteousness by the man who has been marked out by him for this work; of which he has given a sign to all men by giving him back from the dead.
32. Now on hearing about the coming back from death, some of them made sport of it, but others said, Let us go more fully into this another time.
33. And so Paul went away from among them.
34. But some men gave him their support: among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.